Giving the Gift of Warmth in Cobb County

Donate jackets and winter wear to Police Department coat drive

Cobb County Police Department's Community Affairs Unit staff is excited to announce its first annual coat drive: "Giving the Gift of Warmth." Help us ensure everyone in our community enjoys warmth during the upcoming winter season. We need your support to make this project a success by donating gently-used coats and other winter wear (scarves, hats, and gloves) to children and families in need. Your donated items will be shared with numerous organizations throughout Cobb County.

Donations can be dropped off at any of the below locations through Friday, Dec. 1:

Precinct 1: 2380 Cobb Parkway, Kennesaw
Precinct 2: 4700 Austell Road, Austell
Precinct 3: 1901 Cumberland Parkway, Atlanta
Precinct 4: 4400 Lower Roswell Road, Marietta
Precinct 5: 4640 Dallas Highway, Powder Springs
Headquarters: 140 North Marietta Parkway, Marietta

The best times to drop off at the precincts and headquarters are between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday (excluding county holidays). If you are unable to make a drop-off donation, please call Sgt. Jeff Tatroe (Community Affairs Unit supervisor) at 770-499-3981 or email him at jeff.tatroe@cobbcounty.org for a scheduled pick-up. 

Identify and Eliminate Vampire Appliances

Some of your electronic devices at home drain energy even when they are turned off, but still plugged into an outlet. The average U.S. home spends about $100 per year to power devices while they are off or in standby mode. Here are some tips to help you identify and eliminate the energy-sucking appliances in your home.

Interesting facts about vampire appliances:

• The average home has about 40 vampire energy electronics. 
• Standby power can account for about 20 percent on your energy bill. 
• Powering devices while they are off or in standby mode can cost you about $100 per year. 

Vampire Appliances in your home:

• Televisions 
• Cable or satellite boxes 
• Game consoles
• DVD, DVR or VCR players 
• Computers
• Devices that turn on automatically with a remote control 
• Chargers (such as your cell phone or camera chargers)
• Printers
• Standby coffee makers
• Electronics with a standby light or clock 

Tips to help you eliminate vampire appliances:

• Unplug your devices - If you have an extra TV or desktop computer you don’t use often, unplug it until you need to use them. 
• Use a power strip - Power strips allow the convenience of powering devices on and off so that they’re not consuming power when you’re not around. 
• Smart Upgrades - ENERGY STAR appliances have a lower standby consumption and use less energy than a general appliance. 

Bridging the Generation Gap with New Hires

“Did you see what she wore to work today? What was she thinking? This is a corporation, not a club!

"How does he not know to bring a notebook and a pen to a meeting? Do I have to tell him everything?"

"What would make her think it was okay to party with clients until three in the morning? Does this woman have no understanding of boundaries?"

"Did you know his mother called HR to find out when he would be getting a raise? Unbelievable!”
 
If you have new hires fresh out of school in your workplace, some of that may have a familiar ring.
 
So what’s happening? Are the new hires prompting those reactions just bad hires? Are you just unlucky? Probably not.
 
Rather, the source of the surprises most likely has to do with training (or the lack of training) related to workplace expectations. Before you say, “but they should know,” don’t waste your breath. Maybe they should know, but they don’t. New hires are called new hires for a reason. They are freshly minted employees who don’t know much about the workplace because most of them haven’t been in it that long.
 
Think about it: if the shoe were on the other foot and you found yourself in some kind of Freaky-Friday hell, do you think you would flawlessly understand today’s high-school or college social codes? Dream on, and good luck with that.
 
As someone with more experience than the people you hire, you have a responsibility to get them off to a good start. By consistently following three steps, you can short circuit many of the problems people encounter when they start working with new hires.
 
Step One: Understand something about them
Millennials as a generation are different from those who have come before them. More than a few still live at home and don’t plan on leaving soon. Besides, if they borrowed money for school, they may already owe as much as what amounts to a mortgage. That doesn’t mean they’re clueless about life outside of the nest, but their circumstances are probably very different from yours at the same age. Assume nothing.
 
Next, you must understand these people grew up surrounded by ever-present technology and in an era of instant answers. Sure, you may have had an Atari or Nintendo, but it’s not the same thing. They had and still have Google. They are used to being able to find information and find it quickly. Raised in an era of parents as friends and instant answers, many of these individuals have no problem questioning authority. In the workplace, you may see a new hire ask questions and interact with senior leaders in ways you don’t expect. Maybe you already have.
 
Another difference between millennials and other generations is how they view praise. As children, this generation of people played on sports teams where everyone received a trophy just for showing up. They were also rewarded and recognized with ribbons and certificates at school for being polite, having integrity, and displaying common courtesy. Millennials expect feedback loaded with praise whether merited or not.
 
Longevity in an organization is another difference between this generation and others. Years ago, it was a major taboo to job jump or have gaps on a resume. These days, you will find that this generation will gladly take six months off to go hiking along the Appalachian Trail or volunteer somewhere overseas. Strangers to delayed gratification, they aren’t saving those activities for retirement, and they don’t expect to spend a lifetime with a company. Instead of pretending that millennials will be part of your team for a decade or more, look for ways to make the most of the time you have together while they are.

Step Two: Spell out everything
Millennials are not the Amazing Kreskin. Do not rely on their clairvoyant powers. Again, assume nothing. Take workplace dress, for example. There was a time not too long ago when women wore hose to work and wouldn’t consider crossing the office threshold in open-toed shoes. That was then. These days, if you offer no guidance, some will cross the threshold in footwear you wouldn’t wear outside your house. And when the parade of fashion crimes starts, you will have no one to blame but yourself. You need to tell people that contrary to what they may see online or in a magazine, the flip-flop is not the new Ferragamo.
 
Once you’ve thought about the basics, you’ll need to anticipate the times "on the job” when the new hire will interact with people outside your organization. Is the new hire attending a client function with you? If so, it makes sense to review your expectations before you head out the door. If you expect a certain set of behaviors, you need to make clear what they are.
 
Step Three: Use praise, and do it often
Most people like praise. The difference between millennials and other generations is that they are used to getting it.
 
To get the most out of your new hires, you must learn how to give feedback more often. A word of caution: Millennials know when they are being patronized just as well as the next person, so choose your words wisely. You are going to have to pay attention and recognize good work. It’s more time consuming, but if you put in the effort, you will probably see more of what you want to see.
 
Do not rely solely on feedback on the fly. The reality is it’s easy to get busy. Make the time to have structured conversations with your new hires about their development. Thinking about skipping this step? Don’t. Regularly scheduled one-on-one meetings will ultimately benefit the new hire, the organization, and you.
 
Developing any employee takes time, and working with new hires has its own set of challenges. There are few shortcuts along the road to success in the workplace.
 
How much effort you put in to another person is certainly up to you. But think back to your first days in the world of work. If someone spent the time to work with you early in your career, you were lucky. If you didn’t have that opportunity, don’t you wish you had?

Published by By Kate Zabriskie 
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How Does the Fed's Move Affect Mortgages?

     There are only 2 answers to this question that leave no room for debate - "it doesn't" and "we'll see". Informative, right? The reality of the Fed's December decision to raise the Fed funds rate for the first time in nearly a decade has been expected for some time, and comes on the heels of numbers that portray a strengthening economy, a healthy job market, and at least some level of Fed rate hikestability across the spectrum of our economy. Many prognosticators are offering up opinions on what will happen, but the truth is, no one knows where we go from here. The economy we've seen over the past decade is one of uncharted waters. The Fed has implemented as many controls as it could muster in that time in an effort to stabilize what was once a market in complete self-destruction. Some of these controls had intended results. Others did not.

     From here, a couple of scenarios could play out, along with many more that fall in the middle, somewhere between these 2 possibilities. One scenario is that the economy continues to improve, and a private market for mortgage backed securities recreates itself. In this scenario, stocks improve (along with the economy as a whole- largely dependant on wages and inflation), and interest rates on mortgages steadily increase, held in check by competition, but increasing to keep in check with overall economic conditions.

     Another scenario (and the one I think is closer to reality) is that the Fed's rate increases reveal that all that has glittered over the past few years hasn't been gold - meaning the large gains in the stock market and the economy as a whole are largely (or solely) the result of unlimited quantities of almost free-money being available for nearly a decade. Think about it. If you could borrower unlimited funds and pay between 0-.25 percent, do you think you could turn a hefty profit on that money? You'd be a pretty poor investor or business person if you couldn't. What about when that borrowing rate moves to 2, 3, or 4 percent? Things would be a little tougher, and would require savvy and favorable market conditions. In this scenario, the rate hike hinders the folks that have been making a killing playing the market with Monopoly money, and "trickle down" economics come into play, resulting in layoffs, slowed development, and possibly another recession, or at least continued stagnation - market conditions that bring about those same low interest rates we've seen over the past 5 years.

     There are innumerable possibilities between these 2 scenarios, and outside factors will impact the mortgage interest rate atmosphere - including stocks, commodity prices, and geopolitical events. As things unfold though, the mortgage markets should remain largely in-check and similar to those we've seen for the past 2 years, at least for the most part. Any increases to mortgage rates were largely already factored into the marketplace ahead of the Fed's announcement, as trading has run rampant over the past year as the Fed's decision seemed to transition from "if" to "when". One thing is for certain going forward, the Fed has shown that it would like to end the free money party sooner rather than later, and if they think they can, they will. This first rate hike should be a wake up call to the marketplace that it needs to figure itself out. As rates increase, those who have been drunk on free money need to sober up, and adapt to a new reality - because the Fed has made it clear, the party is over. For the short term, though, mortgages, rates, and product offerings won't be changing, at least not any more than they have been the last 6-12 months, which means continued volatility, but no major changes to the mortgage landscape.

POSTED BY John Meussner NMLS# 138061 via ActiveRain: http://activerain.com/blogsview/4800794/how-does-the-fed-s-move-affect-mortgages-?utm_campaign=base&utm_medium=email&utm_source=dailydrop